UAE’s first 2017 babies weigh in
Athaba and Lorien arrive as the New Year fireworks fly
As the fireworks went off across the Emirates to mark the arrival of 2017, Athaba Saeed Al Mansoori became the UAE’s first baby of the new year, weighing in at 3.3 kilogrammes in Burjeel Hospital, Abu Dhabi. Her proud Emirati parents have four other children and her father, Saeed Al Mansoori, called his little daughter an “exceptional gift”.
“We are delighted that Athaba was the first baby to be born in 2017,” he said.
Seven minutes after Athaba greeted the world, Lorien arrived, weighing 3.2kg, and was quickly wrapped up in a pink blanket.
For Lotfiya Hussain Hassan, a Palestinian, Lorien is her fourth child.
The 35-year-old mother said: “I now have three princesses and one king.”
New Year’s Day was a busy one at Corniche Hospital in the cap- ital. By 10am, five boys and four girls had been delivered by staff.
Hard-working staff were also out on the streets, cleaning up after the revelries and returning the nation’s public spaces to good order after party and concert-goers had gone home.
In Dubai, municipality workers in orange blitzed mountains of plastic bottles, food containers, cans and paper into bags.
Pavements were scrubbed and rubbish piled for removal along the canal boardwalk before morning joggers hit the streets.
Travel disruption hung over the New Year’s Day good mood, bringing more flight delays, reroutings and cancellations for passenger.
At Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports, fog continued to be a nuisance as airlines took a safety-first approach to travel.
Flydubai was forced to cancel more than 70 flights, while 80 flights in Abu Dhabi were delayed.